


Happy Birthday, Steve

by ScarletPhoenix



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, Natasha insists Steve celebrates his birthday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-02
Updated: 2014-07-02
Packaged: 2018-02-07 02:51:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1882323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScarletPhoenix/pseuds/ScarletPhoenix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i> “Why are you so insistent that I have a good birthday?” he asks.</i>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>  <i>“Because I’m your friend,” She shrugs</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Happy Birthday, Steve

The History Channel has something called Cap Week that airs every year the week of Independence Day. Clint had described it as _“Like Shark Week, only with Patriotism and World War Two.”_ Tony had started to explain what Shark Week was, but Steve had actually watched Shark Week the previous year.

That’s how Steve decides to spend his birthday. Tony had whined about wanting to throw Steve a big party ( _“Not every day you turn ninety-five!” _Steve hadn’t bothered to tell him he was actually turning ninety-six.), but sweet, wonderful Pepper had taken Steve’s side when he’d said he didn’t want one. He’d much rather just sit alone in his apartment then go to whatever Tony would have done.__

__Apparently not everyone got the memo that he wanted to be alone._ _

__“I didn’t know what kind of cake you liked so I got a variety pack from that one bakery with the TV show,” Natasha says as she pushes her way into his apartment._ _

__“What?” he asks, watching her saunter into his living room and falling back on the couch._ _

__“It’s your birthday, isn’t it?” she looks up at him. “The whole 4th of July thing wasn’t just some weird propaganda thing, was it?”_ _

__“No it’s actually my birthday, but why are you here?”_ _

__“To celebrate your birthday,” She says as she popped open the cupcake box.She fishes in the pocket of her pants for a set of candles that say 9 and 6, along with a lighter. “Now pick out the cupcake we’re putting the candle on.”_ _

__Steve walks back over to his couch, sitting down beside her and pointing to the cupcake that looks the least outrageous. “Do I have to worry about anyone else showing up? Because I don’t really want any kind of party.”_ _

__“No, just little old me,” Natasha smiles at him. “I just didn’t want you to be alone on your birthday.” She carefully pulls his selected cupcake out of the box and set it in front of him. She spends a minute very carefully situating the candles on top of the mountain of yellow icing. She rolls her finger along the ignitor of the lighter and holds the flame to the wicks. Her singing is loud and off key, but Steve can’t help but smile as he leans in to blow out the candles._ _

__“So, you came all the way here to bring me cupcakes and sing to me?” He asks, watching Natasha carefully pluck the candles from the cupcake._ _

__“Of course,” Natasha smiles widely. “Its not like I normally do anything on the fourth.” She grabs her own cupcake and delicately peels away the paper away. “So, what else should we do? We can see a movie or go out to dinner or we can stay here and see if it’s possible for you to take enough shots of vodka to get drunk.”_ _

__“I was actually going to check out this Cap Week thing that Clint told me about."_ _

__“That’s kind of depressing.” She declares. “I mean, I can’t really judge. I have a whole bookshelf dedicated to the Soviet Union.” She opens her mouth wide and takes a big bite out of her cupcake._ _

__Steve rummages around for his remote and flips on the TV. He changes the channel from whatever he'd been watching the night to the history channel. The documentary that was currently playing was one on his life before the serum. Natasha toes off her shoes, letting them fall on his floor with a thud before propping her feet up on the coffee table._ _

__Steve isn't sure what to do with Natasha here. Should he try to make small talk? Should her offer something to drink? He isn't used to having company. Before the war, it had really just been him and Bucky, with the only guest being Bucky's girlfriends. And now he just didn't really have any company. To be exact, he hadn't even known that Natasha had known where he lived._ _

__The narrator of the documentary droned on over the images of his old Brooklyn neighborhood. _"Steven Grant Rogers was born to Joseph and Sarah Rogers on July 4th, 1918..."__ _

__"You're only ten years older than me." Natasha says, and Steve is almost positive that she's joking._ _

__He chuckles, smiling a bit. "Well it's nice to know I'm not the only impossible young looking senior citizen." Natasha laughs, finishing off her cupcake and balling up the wrapper._ _

__"Except unlike you, I didn't spend most of it on ice," she retorts with a playful smile._ _

___"Rogers' best friend from childhood was James "Bucky" Barnes,"_ the narrator pulls Steve's attention back to the screen as it shows images of Bucky. _"They lived together in this apartment until 1943, when Barnes was drafted..."_ Steve's heart gave a painful lunge whenever Bucky being drafted was mentioned. It made his death even worse. He hadn't wanted to be there, he hadn't tried enlisting five different times because he wanted to help so badly. No, Bucky had just wanted to stay in Brooklyn. _ _

__Yet he'd wanted to be the one who had lost his life._ _

__He felt Natasha place her hand over his and squeezed. "It's okay, Steve," she murmurs quietly. "It's not your fault, you know?"_ _

__"Yes it is," Steve says, forcing himself to look away from the screen. "He was on that train because of me. If... If it weren't for me he’d alive."_ _

__"Steve, do you know what the death count was for American soldiers?" Natasha asks. "Odds were that he'd have been killed regardless. To be exact, he definitely would have been if it weren't for you saving him." She grabs another cupcake, this one a was chocolate with what looked like peanut butter frosting. “It sucks, but you can’t blame yourself for what happened because it wasn’t your fault. Things happen that are out of your control.” She takes a bite of her cupcakes and practically moaned. She holds it out for him to take a bite. “This is the best cupcake I have ever had in my whole life. And I’m eighty-six. I’ve had a lot of cupcakes.”_ _

__Steve furrows his brow a bit, before taking the offered cupcake and takes a bite. It was actually really good, and he was hesitant to hand it back to Natasha. “Now, I think this is just depressing you, and it’s your birthday. We can’t have that on your birthday.” She declares, grabbing the remote and turning off the TV. “Go put on some real clothes, I’m taking you out to dinner,” She ordered._ _

__“Why are you so insistent that I have a good birthday?” he asks._ _

__“Because I’m your friend,” She shrugs. “Birthdays...they’re a day that’s supposed to be about you. A day where you can forget all about the shit going on in your life and just have some fun.” Steve opens his mouth to say something - he’s not exactly sure what but he was going to say something. “I don’t even know when my birthday is. It wasn’t exactly something we celebrated in the Red Room, but when I told Clint that he declared July 17th was my birthday. He’s never missed one. He always takes me out to dinner and for pie, every year without fail.” she looks down at her cupcake. “I thought it was kind of stupid at first, but it’s...the sweetest thing that anyone’s ever done for me. I just wanted the same for you.”_ _

__Steve pauses for a second, thinking about Natasha’s words. “That’s...really sweet.”_ _

__“Don’t let anyone else know, okay?” Natasha orders jokingly, before shoving him a bit. “Now go get dressed. Have you ever had Indian food? It’s amazing.”_ _

__“Well, I guess I’m about to find out,” He says with a smile as he gets up and goes to get dressed._ _

__When he comes back out to the living room, Natasha grabs his arm and drags him out of the apartment. They walk several blocks to a small, non descript restaurant. Steve worried for a moment that Natasha had dragged to one of those places that Tony called Food Poisoning Capitals, but then they’d walked in and the place was buzzing with life._ _

__It turns out that Steve does really like Indian food. He was a bit apprehensive about it when they walked in and he had no idea how to pronounce half of the menu. He’d just let Natasha order for him, and whatever she had gotten for him was absolutely amazing. It was something delicious, red and tomatoey. Why hadn’t there been more foods like this when he was younger? Natasha promised to take him out to try other types of food after he declared that he liked indian. “I’m going to take you to try sushi next week.” Steve was hesitant about raw fish, but he was just going to trust her._ _

__When Tony finds out that Steve had spent his birthday out with Natasha instead of letting him throw him some huge, ridiculous birthday party, he gets ridiculously offended.._ _


End file.
